Tag Archives: Chris Dix

To provide efficient passport renewal services to a vast population of Filipino nationals living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), The Republic of the Philippines has extended their collaboration with VFS Global for five years by signing a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) on 7 May 2021 in an official ceremony that was held in Manila, Philippines. KSA is one of the countries in the Middle East with the highest concentration of Filipino workers. To enhance customer experience and provide greater accessibility to customers in the KSA, the DFA outsourced the administrative and non-discretionary task of the passport renewal process to VFS Global in 2019. Subsequently, three Philippine ePassport Renewal Centres were launched in Riyadh, Jeddah and Al Khobar in October 2020. Prior to the launch of ePassport Renewal Centres, Philippine residents in the Kingdom had to visit the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh or the Consulate in Jeddah for passport renewal. Customers now have an additional avenue to complete the process. In addition to the Centres in KSA, VFS Global also operates two ePassport Renewal Centres located in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, which are also part of MoA extension. Upon signing the agreement, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Brigido J. Dulay said, “Partnering with an established outsourcing champion like VFS Global enabled the DFA to multiply its presence in the Middle East at zero cost to the Philippine government. With the renewal, we can now look at widening and implementing similar service centres in other countries.” Attending the virtual signing ceremony, Chris Dix, Head of Business Development, VFS Global, quoted, “On behalf of VFS Global, I would like to thank the Department …

In a bid to ease the passport renewal process for Philippine nationals living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), The Republic of the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs and VFS Global have signed a contract to provide Passport Renewal services in Riyadh, Jeddah and Al Khobar. All three centres have started to accept passport renewal requests from Saturday to Thursday between 08:00 AM to 08:00 PM. This is the first time The Republic of the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs has outsourced its passport renewal process in KSA. Prior to this, Philippine residents in the KSA had to visit the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah or the Embassy in Riyadh for passport renewal. With the opening of the new ePassport Renewal Centres, customers will have an additional avenue to complete the process. Chris Dix, Head of Business Development, VFS Global, said, “We would like to thank The Republic of the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs for their faith in us. Our Passport and Consular services have been growing from strength to strength, and we look forward to bringing those best in class services to the Philippines nationals here in the Kingdom.”

Portugal Passport Collection Centres jointly launched by the Embassy of Portugal in the UAE and VFS Global for citizens of Portugal living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Officially launched on August 16, 2020, VFS Global’s Portugal Passport Collection Centres in Abu Dhabi and Dubai will ensure the safe and secure delivery of newly issued passports to customers, while the Embassy of Portugal in Abu Dhabi will continue to accept applications for issuance and renewal of passports. The centres are operational from Sunday to Thursday, from 09:00 AM to 05:00 PM. Chris Dix, Head of Business Development, VFS Global said, “With the launch of the new centres, we further enhance our relationship with the Embassy of Portugal in the UAE. Outsourcing the passport collection process to VFS Global gives the Embassy a trusted partner with established infrastructure and expertise in handling sensitive documents. We are delighted to provide a convenient and secure passport collection platform to Portuguese nationals in the UAE. In order to ensure a safe environment for employees and customers, VFS Global has established standardised protective measures to be followed across the centres including specific social distancing and sanitation mandates. All customers are subjected to body temperature checks at the entrance to assess their health conditions. Any customer exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms, including high fever, cough and difficulty in breathing will not be permitted to enter the centre and requested to return once their health condition improves. Additionally, all customers and VFS Global employees are required to wear a face mask and gloves within the centre.

VFS Global has signed a contract with the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic for providing visa services in 10 countries worldwide. As per this new contract, VFS Global will now provide visa services for Slovakia in China, India, Kazakhstan, Palestine, Belarus, Russia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Egypt through 38 visa application centres. The rollout of all these new operations is expected to be completed by December 2018. Under the new contract, VFS Global will accept both short and long-term visa applications on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic. Chris Dix, Head – Business Development, VFS Global, said, “We are excited about our new partnership with the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic. The countries where we will be operating are markets where VFS Global has worked for several years and whose travellers are familiar with our services and expertise. We are also pleased to have the opportunity to serve our new clients in new locations, and bring applicants in these locations the same benefits and high-quality service that we have been offering our customers worldwide for the last 17 years.”